Table 1: HP's Pricing for Cisco MDS 9000 Family
| Product | Configuration | Price | Price/Port |
| MDS 9509 | 64 ports | $176,187 | $2,753 |
| MDS 9509 | 144 ports | $266,885 | $1,853 |
| MDS 9509 | 224 ports | $357,783 | $1,597 |
| MDS 9216 | 16 ports | $38,800 | $2,425 |
| MDS 9216 | 32 ports | $71,599 | $2,237 |
| MDS 9216 | 48 ports | $79,999 | $1,667 |
| Source: HP | |||
At those price points, HP will seriously undercut IBM's announced pricing for the same products. For example, IBM is selling the 16-port MDS 9216 for $52,263 list -- making HP's pricing 26 percent lower for that switch. Meanwhile, Big Blue is selling a 9509 director with 32 ports for $189,372, which is actually more expensive than HP's price ($176,187) for a 64-port system (see Cisco Gets Set).
However, IBM has lowered its list prices on the Cisco switches since first announcing them in February. According to an IBM document dated April 15 obtained by Byte and Switch, the company is now selling the MDS 9216 for $35,000 list -- which would be slightly under HP's pricing. Asked to confirm this information, a company spokeswoman says, "IBM is not making revised pricing available currently."
Archibald claims customer interest in the Cisco SAN switches has been tremendous. HP has an order backlog for the Cisco MDS 9000 switches of "dozens" of customers in all major geographical regions, some of which represent "multimillion-dollar deals for the switches themselves," he says, adding that the Cisco and HP sales organizations are working together to close business.
At least initially, HP doesn't believe customers will undertake aggressive, broad-based deployment, particularly in "business-critical environments," Archibald says. Most of HP's initial orders for the Cisco gear have been in greenfield environments or secondary SANs.
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